The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-11-02
Special Correspondence

loo was synonymous with disaster and defeat.
and that Napoleon was the party who had
been NaterloOed. That's about all saw in
the battlefield, and the fate Of nations and
dynasties and the rise and fell Of empires
were all obscured by this glorious vindication
Of an abused wife, and was about 10 gather
my skirts about me and jump up and hooray,
when Dickey restrained my impetuosity by a
loud scream at snake in the grass, and we
both went over the ditch into the road in a
state Of panic.
Waterloo being good, quiet place, | have
chosen IL as point to sit down at or on for
the purpose of collating what may have TO
say in this letter
IL Is ten miles or SO from Brussels, and is
in the midst Of n country much ike blue
grass Kentucky in appearance. bat without
the three cardinal virtues of that section, 90
wit: pretty women, good whisky and fine
horses ] know from personal observation
that the first and last are not present. aud
long limbed Kentuckian from Paris
France) informs me that the total absence Of
the second is one Of the most painful expert
ences he ever underwent so far from home,
and never while at home
] have discovered that there are three kinds
of English spoken in Europe, namely: Brit
ish English BEST, American English pic
tureSquel, Continental English more or less
broken; and at Waterloo | think | have
found the nearest TO American English of
any have heard IL is spoken by the girls
who sell trinkets, relics, etc. on the field, and
was first apprised of it when offered girl
half franc for a picture she wanted two
francs for. | thought Of course, she would
do the regular thing, and begin TO hedge and
cut the figures but she didn't On the con
trary, she looked at me roguishly. and with a
keen little smile she replied:
"Ah, lady, you've got no green in your
eye.r
A little party had gathered by this time.
all bareheaded and rosy checked and when
started away there was a chorus Of ia, tar'
Come again" "See you later and other
Americansms, which, learned afterward.
the girls had picked up in various firtatons
with spry young men from Uncle Sans do
minions. 1t Is about the only place where |
have heard any slang, too, and this reminds
me that ! have not hearl a profane oath
since l have been on the Continent, except
by some one who has had previous training
in America, and am really ashamed TO ac-
knowledge it. The profanity and slang
which vitiate our language constitute one Of
the chief elements distinguishing American
English from the other varieties have men
toned elsewhere in this letter
The other day over in Antwerp came
across another one OF our representative
Americans abroad 1t was really two, but
as they were married l suppose it is all right
TO say one. They had apparently just landed,
as Antwerp is quite place for continental
laiiders, and they were in the cathedral see
ing what was 10 be seen for the mark they
had paid at the door
"Myl N.Y. said she. stopping before Ru
bens' masterpiece The Descent from the
Gross. "this must bo fine one, its so aw-
full big"
eyes, guess it is, replied the husband,
picking his way through a new guide book
as red as a Kentucky politicians nose
"WhoSe is III" said she
"The book says it's Rubens', but | don't see
any name on the picture he said, with some
uncertainty
Ibid you say 1t was Rubens p she asked,
after "A moments further investigation
"That's what the book says, said he
otis rather indefinite, she said Ruben
who's What's his last name"
''Give it up" said the man. "All the book
SAYS is that it is Rubens, and | suppose that's
all the name he had, like Matthew Mark,
Luke and John and "A lot more of those old
ancients, and then they went ON around the
cathedral comprehending what they could
and guessing at the rest.
Another one not quite so bad grew out of
this same painters name, but in this case tne
particeps criminis, so to speak. were men.
They were before a porHait
"Whos it-byf@ asked the one that didn't
have guide book
"Rubens, r. p" read the other from the
book
"Yes, I've heard of him, but what's the 'P.
p forr questioned the first one
"Well, | amt much up in art abbrevia-
tons replied the other, 'but taking it by
and large, | should say p F. stood for Por-
trait Painter"
"And yet there are those who wonder why
art hasn't greater development in America,
why every city in the country hasn't gal
lery in which copies at least of the greatest
pictures and greatest sculptures of the great
masters may be seen and studied" said
/ 10 Dickey when had read her what / had
written.
every true said she; "and while you are
about it, you might as well add to that last
story an explanation to the effect that T. p
stands for Peter Paul, the artists name, lest
some other American be led astray.n
But scorn the insinuation, and leave the
story just as it is
There's good deal of art in Belgium, and
Rubens fiourishes in all galleries like green
bay hoss, but don't like Rubens. He paints
nude figures by the score, and you are always
undecided whether his flesh tints are suffer
ing with the scarlet fever or have simply been
dropped for minute into boiling water, while
his women have figures that ought 10 make
Venus get down off of a canvas, and go
into smuggling match with Sullivan. In
Brussels ! went o. the Wiertz gallery, the
finest collection of allegorical torpid livers in
the world. Wier.z, imagine, was born bill
ious, and he never got over it. He depicts
murders and suicides, and people in collins,
and visions after decapitation, and all man
nsr of horrid things, and to make them more